The illegal immigration issue and its consequences often occupies the television news
shows and the headlines of newspapers. The stand of political leaders regarding this issue is a
very vital determinant of their success or failure in the elections. In the U.S., the main focus of
most presidential debates is the issue of migration- ranging from undocumented immigrants to
their birthright to citizenship. The primary objective of this paper is to analyze further the issue
of illegal immigration from the perspective of an article. The paper will evaluate the costs,
benefits and consequences of alternative immigration policies.
The author of this article does not support the deportation of the many illegal immigrants
in the country since it is not a reasonable solution for political and practical reasons (Chiswick
13). The main ideas of the author is that if the country wants to admit lesser immigrants than the
ones seeking entry, or if it policymakers want to be choosy among the potential applicants (for
example, based on criminal history or health) then they need to have an immigration policy that
selects immigrants and rations entry visas. On the issue of illegal immigration, the author
explicitly argues that the current political debate about securing the border to stop illegal
immigration misses the point. Currently, approximate half of the undocumented immigrants
working in America entered by “running” into the country. Increasing the number of law
enforcement officers patrolling the border and building the fence will be costly and would have
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an uncertain effect of reducing the number of immigrants working in the country illegally
(Chiswick 11). Increasing the cost of illegal immigrants to keep going across the border,
increases their chances of reducing their trips home and to they can remain in America for longer
periods. Additionally, increasing the cost of crossing the border on their own will make them
more willing to hire people smugglers (“coyotes”) and use other techniques to enter the country.
Finally, the author claims that the current political debates on the issue have significantly
ignored enforcing immigration laws from within the country, and not just on the borders. Most of
the immigrants enter the country looking for job opportunities. By the standards of most
Americans, such jobs offer low wages, but the wages are higher than what the migrant would
receive in his/her home country. The country has an Act stating that it is illegal for employers to
hire knowingly someone who is in the country illegally (Chiswick 12). However, this provision’s
effectiveness is limited since very few government resources are dedicated to its enforcement
because the penalties on employers for violating this rule are minimal. The other reason is that
there is no official way to find out who is allowed by the country's law to work. The author
suggests “E-Verify” as a way of knowing the legal status of a person. A mandated country-wide
use of an E-Verify system that is up-to-date is probably the most effective tool for enforcing
immigration law from within the country. However, this system has three objections: first, before
it works properly it will have many errors; second, the concern as to who will cater for the
implementation cost; the third concern regards the civil liberties of the American citizens
(Chiswick 12).
The article is extremely informative since it offers a feasible solution to the issue of
immigration and that is through interior workplace enforcement. Instead of these political figures
arguing about the issue of deportation and building a wall, they should consider a better approach
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of dealing with the immigrants internally. After realizing the population of the immigrants, the
government should look at the contribution they make to the economy and analyze their criminal
records to verify whether the immigrant can be granted legal status. This will reduce many costs
for the government and will leave everyone concerned satisfied.
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Work Cited
Chiswick, Barry. Managing Immigration in the 21st Century. No. 108. Institute for the Study of
Labor (IZA), 2015: 1-18